April 12, 2012

Transcendent: Tales of the Paranormal

Description: Discover the secrets of a siren, fly with a hawk girl over the mountains of Montana, and flee supernatural party-crashers as the décor comes to life in this magical journey through paranormal stories. Along the way, watch for ghosts in a haunted house, or ride through the moonlight with a stranger. Save a comatose boy who has lost his soul, and don’t forget to bring your garlic and wolfsbane—you never know when the shadows will snag you. Transcendent includes eight stories of magic, love, death, and choice by some of the newest names in young adult fiction.

**This book is an anthology so I'll be reviewing it a little differently. For each of the short stories I'll write a bullet point about why I loved it.**

Epic Wins:

Seduction of a Siren- Love me some Greek mythology plus it has one of those look-deeper-that-the-skin messages. When Trevor sees Ann for the first time after the whole ordeal, that's my favorite part. His mind can't even wrap his head around how pretty she is and what a jerk her was.

Feather- I loved watching Feather change, mentally and physically. She went from not really caring about her culture or family history to being swept up in the awesomeness of it. I may have really loved Talon too.

Spectre- I loved the creepy feel to this one. It was like the stuff of nightmares brought to life.

Shadows of Promise- I liked how you didn't see what was coming until it hit you. Plus ghost stories are always a favorite of mine. Sean was British and sweet and *swoon*.

Pumpkin Thief- Ditch a lame party to travel by horse with a pumpkin headed gentleman? Sounds legit. I really enjoyed this one and it's twist on the legend of the headless horseman.

Strike- I loved the concept of this one; a boy struck by lightning only to be stuck in an MP3 player and one girl's race to get him to his body. Love to see this one expanded upon.

Ryan's Wish- The message in this one was cool. If someone you love dies you have to focus on what makes you happy instead of uselessly wish for them to come back.

The Kiss of Death- This was a totally new sort of story at least for YA. It brought up not only life after death but life BEFORE birth. It also gave cancer a noble cause and I can't imagine that is easy.

Overall: These stories were all one of two things A) Amazing in a creepy way or B) Amazing in an adorable way. I totally suggest checking this anthology out, so many good stories packed into a lovely book!